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Friday, April 19, 2013

Review: Unhinged by Tempest Avery

Let's kick things off with a book review, shall we? To make it even better, let's kick things off with a review of a book I actually enjoyed. Exciting!

Without further ado, I give you:

Goodreads Summary: Spencer Perry lost
everything the day her boyfriend died. Even when he came back as a
ghost, she was never able to return to her old self. Determined to find a
way to bring both of them back--him from the dead and her from her
depression--Spencer hops a ride with a Reaper across the river to the
Underworld where she meets the god of the dead. Hadrian isn't what she
expected Hades to be like, but when he agrees to a deal that can get her
Micah back, she puts all caution aside and accepts. Too bad she didn't
realize that she'd also just accepted a lot more than one gorgeous yet
frustrating god. Bad things are happening all around her, and now she
not only has to worry about keeping Micah's ghost status a secret from
their friends, but also figure out who's behind all of the accidents.
All signs point towards Hadrian, but something about that just doesn't
feel right to her. Something that she hopes has nothing to do with her
growing attraction towards him.

Now, if that doesn't sound interesting, I don't know what does.

Unhinged
was everything that I could have asked for. Beautifully written,
unique, and holding a plot that keeps you interested the entire time, it
is hard to put down. (I would know, because I hardly did.)

Having
the story intertwined with mythology was definitely something
refreshing to see, especially for those of us who are fans of both the
gods and young adult fiction.

Also, Avery creates realistic and
interesting characters that you really can connect through without the
story. It isn't easy to find well-crafted female protagonists in YA
novels, but Spencer Perry is funny, witty and real.

Not to
mention, you know that the author did a good job with characters when
they get you to fall in love with the God of the Underworld. (Which I
also give props to. I am a major fan of questioning the balance of good
and evil and what we know as both of those terms, which is done
elegantly through Hadrian's character.)

Normally, I am not a huge
fan of the love V, in which the heroine has to choose between two
possible love interests, but Unhinged uses that plot well. Okay, so
maybe I am already one-hundred percent sold on which guy I would choose,
(Hadrian, in case that wasn't clear) the conflict created by this
decision definitely adds to the story.

All in all, Unhinged shot
down my waning expectations of YA paranormal romance and set the bar
very high. It was a pleasure to read, and completely worth all the
procrastination it had caused me to do. I would highly recommend it to
anyone looking for an excellent read, especially if you have an interest
in the ideas of afterlife/mythology/attractive gods, like I so clearly
do.

If you want to be left satisfied, but also angrily wanting
more, then read Unhinged. If you don't, read Unhinged anyway, because
you clearly don't know what you want.